


Shooting Stars

by ThanatosBanshee



Category: My Time At Portia (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-16 10:27:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18689641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThanatosBanshee/pseuds/ThanatosBanshee
Summary: Crashing 300 years into the future wasn't really Evie's idea of a good time, but maybe it won't be so bad in an odd place like Portia.





	1. A Not So Ordinary Day

**Author's Note:**

> I thought at first maybe I took too many creative liberties when I started this but really, I only changed my builder's back story and gave Ack a name worthy of our favorite mustached AI. Also Hali. And probably more I'll think of later. 
> 
> Huge thanks to Cass for her never ending encouragement, you da best. 
> 
> Also the first couple chapters are a bit angsty but I promise our little builder is going to pull through and have some fun!

Prologue: Fractured. 

330 years, 2 months, 17 days before:  
Altair One Space Station.  
Cafeteria Kitchens.

Rotating the screwdriver one last time on the last screw in the back of the Kalamack unit’s head, Evangeline removed the small metal plate hiding all the important bits. 

“Oh my belle Lora, what horror-ack it is to know we shall be apart...ack...for even a brief period of ti-ack.” 

“Okay buddy, into maintenance mode for you. Ni-night.” She said as the Lora unit batted her eyelashes, wheeling the cart of dirty dishes to the sink. 

This wasn't the first time an AI unit had malfunctioned for no apparent reason around the station. This one wasn't nearly as bad as the two AI that worked in navigation; letting out an unending static sounding scream until they were put to sleep. And Hali, the ship AI, couldn't find the source even though she was constantly running scans. Nothing inside the ship, nothing outside. Evie had a bad feeling about the whole thing.

Loading the now sleeping robot onto the dolly cart she kicked out the bottom to get them going. Maybe she should have asked him to step onto the dolly before he entered maintenance mode. The Kalamack was heavy as fuck. 

“A-yo fix-it-babe when you gonna fix my stove?” One of the chefs called as she started walking out of the large kitchen. 

Shoving her grease rag back into the pocket of her overalls she replied, “Maybe when I fix the ship!” A loud HA followed her out. 

The large metal hallway echoed with the footsteps of all the people walking around. People called out to her often and she'd raise a hand in greeting but Evie was distracted. Bringing her wrist near her mouth to avoid the noise she said “Call Aiden.” 

The holo-screen popped up with the rotating dots connecting the call. After a moment her little brother’s face popped into the screen. “Got you, you fuck! You broke the toilet again before you left for work you damn animal. At least leave a note or something!”

“Can we do this later? I'm at work.” 

“Oh now you're a grown up. Okay wise guy.”

“See you in the cafeteria at six.” Someone called for his attention and the call dropped. What a brat. 

Someone clipped the wheel of the dolly with their foot and went sprawling along the floor at the same time her wrist band beeped with a call. “Auto - accepting call from Captain Wheelin.” 

“Stay outta the fuckin AI lane if you can't watch where you're going. Wheels are rolling here man!”

“Evangeline.” 

“Oh Jesus. Ahem. Captain how can I help you?” 

“Your language hasn't improved since we left Earth I see.”

“Sorry Sir, you can take the girl outta South Side but good luck gettin it outta me.” His hearty laugh was loud enough to turn heads as she continued down the hall. It hurt her heart a bit hearing it even after seven years, reminding her of her father who used to laugh just as hard with his old friend Wheelin. 

“I'm glad space hasn't killed your spirit. I need you to come to my quarters immediately. My Hali module seems to have gotten this bu-”

“Don't say the b word. Don't do it. I don't want this to be a b word. Don't even think it.” 

“Yes ma’am. All the same, immediately.” His stoney face cracked into a smile at her scowl. She really did hate the b word. ‘Bug’ was not something you wanted to hear when you lived on a space station where a third of the people running the ship were AI. Bug was a bad word. 

“Aye-aye Captain, on my way already.” After that he dropped the call and Evie backed her dolly onto the large maintenance elevator. 

The Captain was a good man. Raised in Brooklyn with Evie’s dad, he was a marine vet who tried to get as many survivors on the station as he could before the second flash hit, including Evie and her little brother. She'd been sixteen at the time, Aiden only twelve. They had been on the phone with their mother as she drove home when the flash hit and then their father was shot in the line of survivors getting on the Altair. 

It was an easy ride up to the captain's cabin. Swiping her wristband at the door it opened with her clearance. At least he remembered this time to have the door expect her, it was always awkward pounding on a metal door in the hallway where all the department heads lived. 

The few other times she'd been up in Captain Wheelin’s quarters had all been for Hali fixes. There were several nodes that housed the important AI in the ship and Hali got grumpy if anyone but Evie tried to mess with the black boxes. 

Holographic Artificial Learning Intelligence. Hali for short. The woman who built her was absolutely brilliant, but she died in the first flash, leaving the AI with its prototype image and quirky personality. Not that in the seven years they'd been up here nobody has tried to change it. It was that Hali usually jolted them with a shock if someone tried rummaging around her circuits. Except for Evie oddly enough. 

So she was forever on Hali duty. And having watched the first Resident Evil movie quite often as a kid, it never failed to scare the shit out of her when Hali showed up unannounced. Every damn time. Especially in the middle of the night. 

Hali hadn't even been built to be a ship AI originally. Built to learn she quickly became one of the most capable AI, and when the Flash was predicted her creator decided to use her for good. To help the common people, the ones to be left behind on the failing planet by the corrupt billionaires leaving in their own ships. Jokes on them. They died before the first flash. 

The little girl's disembodied voice was coming from the black box as she argued with the captain. Her broken up voice had that grating static layer to it and it looked like she kept trying to bring her body image out but the blue light just wavered and disappeared. 

“What do you mean a blank space? You didn't find anything?” 

“No wssshhh. Blank spa-wsssshhh. Critical to sca-wssh. Sca-wssshh. Scan.” 

“Scan what? You said it was blank!”

“Scan! Wssshhh.” The little girl popped into existence to stick her tongue out and then she fizzled out again. 

“Damn robot.” 

“Hey now Captain that's not very nice.” Evie said, parking her dolly next to the door. The poor Kalamack unit would have to wait.

“Great you're here. Fix the damn-”

Red lights and alarms started just a second before something rocked the Altair, causing them both to fall hard onto the floor. The back of Evie’s head knocked against the ground and she struggled to make herself roll over to get back up. Captain Wheelin pulled her up with a strong grip on her arm as Hali’s voice rang through the ship declaring emergency procedures needed. 

“Hali! Report immediately!” 

“Large unidentified wssshh. Hull breach in section wssshhhhh through eight. West side maintenance bay no longer wssh. Hangar bay doors breached. Oxygen levels crit-wssh.” Hali kept listing off her report and several calls popped up from the Captain's wristband. A navigator Evie recognized from Aiden’s team, an engineer and someone from the bridge all talking at once as the Captain issued orders. Evie dropped to her knees and pried off the panel on Hali’s module to try and fix the static. 

Was Aiden okay? What sections of the ship were effected by the hull breach? What the hell happened to the maintenance bay? 

The ship rocked again and Evie nearly stabbed herself in the eye with her multitool. Clinging to the black box a terrifying metal screeching filled the air. Someone in the hall was wailing loud enough to be heard over the alarms. Evie tried to work faster when the navigator’s call screen redlined, meaning the wearer of that particular cybernetic wristband every ship member wore had died. What the fuck was going on?

Captain Wheelin grabbed Evie and hauled her up by the back of her overalls. Her black hair got caught in his grip as he dragged her over to a bare wall and she cried out at the pain. Evie’s eyes widened when a panel appeared out of the wall and he pressed his hand against it. What the hell was this? 

A door opened up hiding a cryopod. Why would there be a pod alone in an officer's room? 

Punching a code onto the wall panel the pod opened and the Captain shoved her inside. 

Struggling to get out, Wheelin held her back with a large hand. “Let me go! I need to get to Aiden!”

“I promised- I promised your father that I would take care of you two. I'm sorry Evie. I'm so sorry.” Evie kicked out at him but didn't see his fist as it came down hard across her temple. 

 

CHAPTER ONE. 

Present Day  
City of Portia  
Outside the West Gate

Arlo flipped Sam over his shoulder and onto the grass where she landed with a whump. Not one to admit defeat, her foot snagged around his ankle and she kicked out to knock him off balance. Dropping into a roll they both popped up quickly and circled each other. 

“When I said fight for it, I meant rock paper scissors. Not an hour long spar, I'm hungry.” Remington’s deep voice was laced with amusement as he stood on the sidelines to watch. They were fighting to see who was going to pay for the team's weekly meet up at the Round Table and Arlo was determined to get a free meal. 

“Give it up Boss, I got you this time!” Sam rolled at him to get behind him and jab at his kidney but Arlo spun away, shaking his sweaty bangs out of his eyes. Fighting against Sam was always a good time. The blonde Civil Corp officer was a great fighter and an even better friend. 

Even if she could be quite the trouble maker.

Circling each other again Sam took a step forward and Arlo lunged in for a quick punch. Honestly he expected her to dodge it completely but her gaze went up and he couldn't stop his momentum fast enough to stop himself from tackling her to the ground. 

“What is that!?” Remington shouted. Sam had her jaw hanging open as she looked up and when Arlo followed her gaze his expression probably mirrored hers. 

Something was hurtling through the sky towards the city. 

What??? 

The thing was leaving a black smoke trail in its wake and it seemed to be slightly on fire. It finally hit the ground with an earth shattering shake, the sound of the impact like thunder. 

Jumping up Arlo cursed himself for just sitting there and watching. What was he- a rookie? He was the Captain of the Civil Corps, he needed to be doing his job. 

“It looks like it crashed in the wastelands!” Sam said, running behind him with Remington. Everyone was outside as they ran towards the gates to the wasteland. Many people called out to them but Arlo didn't bother looking back, they needed to make sure nobody entered the Collapsed Wastelands and to check out what that was. Posting Sam at the gate would be a good idea, she had a keen eye and could make absolutely sure nobody, especially any adventurous children, snuck in while also fielding questions and calming the crowd that had already begun forming. 

Today had been so promising this morning as well, nice spring day, good run, good spar, free food. Now this. 

With a heavy sigh he pushed through the crowd. “Sam, gate duty. Remington you're with me. Be ready for anything, we don't know what that is or what it might have woken up.” 

Readying his sword he made sure Remington was ready with his large hammer and they started their way through the gate. He could hear Sam behind them already working on crowd control. 

The crater was visible from the gate even though it was on the far end of the wastelands. The smoke wasn't so thick anymore, hopefully the dirt smothered the small fire. Running towards the trouble they quickly dispatched the few monsters that attacked. There weren't nearly as many out today, it seems the crash caused them all to go into hiding. 

“What is this thing?” Remington asked as they finally reached it. 

“It looks like something out of the Research Center books about space relics. Or part of it anyways.” The smoke was fading but it was still fairly heavy and burned his lungs. Pulling his bandana over his nose and mouth Arlo approached the large hole in the side of the smoking crash. 

It looked like some sort of hallway. Exposed wires sparked once before settling down. Soot was everywhere from the fire, smudging black along the floor and walls but it looked like part of a big metal hallway. There were three doorways left, one of which didn't even have a door anymore. Another doorway had a metal sheet on it but the way the metal was twisted they couldn't force it open. The last door was intact, though there wasn't anyway they saw to open it. It seemed like whatever this place was before the doors were automated. 

“Should we just leave it-WHOH NO.” Remington jumped back and Arlo went with him holding his sword tightly. 

“What? What?” Looking around for the threat he couldn't see anything. What had startling the other man so badly? 

“There was a little girl standing in the hallway, man. She was there and then she disappeared.” 

“Have you inhaled too much smoke?” Remington punched him in the shoulder and they both started when the door slid open. 

“Well that was easy.” Arlo remarked. Shaking his head the other Civil Corp member gestured for Arlo to go first. “Chicken.” 

“Gladly. I'm not messing with any ghosts.” 

Arlo snorted and took the lead. Keeping his sword ready he crept through the door into a… bedroom? Things were strewn across the room but it was pretty obviously a bedroom. Putting their weapons away they started looking through the room. The research center would no doubt be happy to take a look. Odd feeling blankets covered a bed screwed to the floor, a bed that was still made. 

“Captain Jameson Wheelin and crew. Year two aboard the… Altair One?” Remington said from across the room. 

“What's that?” Arlo asked.

“Picture screwed to the wall. There's a lot of people in this picture, lots of robots too. There's a plaque or something here with that name again, Jameson Wheelin.” 

Making a noise of acknowledgment Arlo stepped over a pile of books as he walked to an odd shape set in the wall. There was no dust in the room, the air was stale but there was some odd covering on the large shape. Setting a hand against it, it came back… wet? Condensation? His handprint was left on the object. Leaning closer in the dim light he saw it looked like glass. What was..

“Jeepers creepers.” Arlo jumped around as the pile of books behind him started moving. A robot sat up, swaying slightly. “Who turned out the lights?”

“A robot?” Remington asked. His hand was on the handle of his sword but Arlo didn't think this thing was dangerous. It had a ridiculous mustache though, that might be criminal. 

“Robot? How rude. I am Ack! No. My name is Ka-ah-ah-ack!” 

“Okay Ackbot. What are you doing here?”

“Here? Where is here? Ack!” The Ackbot let out a dramatic gasp. “My leg! Where is my other-ack! Leg!”

Arlo’s heart leapt into his throat when a blue light filled the room and a little girl materialized then faded away. 

“Again! Tell me you saw it that time!” 

“Ack!”

He was getting too old for this.

“Please wssshhh.” 

“Hello?” Arlo called out. 

“Don't talk to it!” Remington hissed.

“Shut up!” Arlo replied.

“Red butt-wssshhh.” It sounded like a little girl.

“Excuse you?”

“Button button button button.”

“What?” 

“Save her. Red wssshhh.” 

“Boss. Look.” Remington pointed behind where Arlo was standing, at the wall next to the odd glass shape. A panel on the wall was flashing blue and a large red button was along the bottom of it. “Should we do it?” 

Arlo thought about it for a moment. Keeping his fellow officers safe was a priority but he couldn't just leave someone behind if they needed saving. He needed to figure out a solution. 

“Remi, take the robot and step out of the room. If I push the button and the door closes, run back to town and get Sam. If I die I want a big statue in Central Plaza.” 

“Captain…”

“That's an order Remington. Get yourself safe.” 

Remington did as he was told. Once the other officer was safe Arlo wiped more of the condensation off to see if he could get a better read on the situation. 

Maybe he was the one who had inhaled too much smoke. His eyes wide as he focused on the woman inside the object. Quickly hitting the button the glass parted from an invisible seam down the middle and she fell out into his arms. Remington rushed back into the room when Arlo fell to the floor to cushion her fall. Her skin felt like ice and she didn't seem to be breathing. Feeling for a pulse on her neck Arlo leaned down to put his ear to her mouth to check for breath. There was nothing for a long moment before he felt a single beat and a tiny inhale. 

“She's alive! We need to get her to the clinic immediately!” The girl materialized again and pointed to a box on the ground, wires sticking out of it as if it had been ripped out of the wall. “Grab that box too.” 

~

“Where did she come from? She's barely breathing.” 

“She's breathing better now than she was when we found her.” Arlo replied. Dr. Xu was already checking her pupils while Phyllis checked her pulse. The woman's curly black hair was spread across the cot she lay on. She wore dark overalls and an odd shirt that only stretched around her breasts. Carrying her back had been an awkward task since things kept falling out of her pockets. Setting the black box, the rag, and the small book on the other clinic cot Arlo kept her screwdriver, her knife and the odd tool object in his own pockets. 

“We need to get her out of these clothes, Sam can you help Phyllis? I don't want to have to cut them off.” 

“Yeah sure.” 

Taking that as his cue to leave Arlo went to join Remington in the Civil Corps building before the mayor showed up. 

What a day.

 

***

Evie’s head felt as though it was filled with cotton. Cotton that had been soaked in gasoline, lit on fire and then pounded out with a heavy boot. Cracking open her eyelids white light seared her brain. Soft voices trickled through the haze of pain. 

“What's her name?”

“We don't-”

“Ginger don't get too close.”

She could make out an unfamiliar ceiling above her. Where the hell was she? No where on the Altair had walls or ceiling like this. The smell of bleach and something green burned her nose. Opening her eyes more Evie was sure this wasn't the medbay. Moving her head caused a burst of pain but seeing a group of unfamiliar people standing not ten feet away caused immediate panic. It was impossible to know everyone on the station but none of these people looked any sort of familiar. None of them had a wristband that she could see and most of them looked as though they spent a good portion of time in the sun, something she hadn't seen since they left Earth. 

There was a small table next to the medical cot she was on filled with doctors equipment. Grabbing a scalpel Evie tried to get off the bed on the side away from them but her legs didn't seem to be able to hold her and she fell to her knees. 

A man in a lab coat and a woman who looked like the textbook definition of a sexy nurse hurried to the bed but she brandished the small knife their way and they stopped. “Stwah buh. Dohn no hm. Whe? Mle pblltttthhh.” Her hand shaking, the alarm in her voice increased when she realized she couldn't talk properly. It was like her tongue was too heavy or swollen even though it felt fine in her mouth. 

“It's okay, you're safe. We won't hurt you. My name is Doctor Xu, this is my assistant Phyllis. Why don't we get back up on the bed?” The man said, taking a step towards her. Waving the knife at him she bared her teeth to get him to step back. 

“Sam go get Arlo.” The attractive blonde nurse said in a soothing voice. The other blonde woman, probably Sam considering she replied, was wearing mostly pink with bright green pants. She looked incredibly offended at the other woman's words.

“I'm not leaving you all alone with her. She's got a knife!”

“It's just a scalpel.” 

“Phyllis you go get the Captain.” The doctor cut in. 

“You guys are scaring her!” A girl with a soft voice and orange hair was being held back by a tall man with long blonde hair. Who the fuck were these people? 

“Weh ta hull plee eh?” She growled. Her tongue still wasn't working. Looking down Evie realized she wasn't wearing her clothes either. What the fuck? “Ugh!” Hospital gowns sucked.

Looking around to try and find her stuff her eyes locked on a black box next to her clothes on another cot across the room. Was that Hali’s module? Hali could speak for her! 

Pointing at the box behind the ginger haired girl Evie tried to get her point across. “Muh nah da booooox!” Pointing again with emphasis she could at least sort of say box. “Booox! Me nah!” Gesturing to herself and then the box again the taller blonde lady had slipped out at some point but the shorter, slightly more terrifying blonde never took her eyes off Evie. Everyone else seemed to be trying to understand the frustrating game of charades. 

The ginger girl said something to the man who slightly resembled her, probably a brother or other family member Evie guessed, and he picked up the black box. They approached her makeshift barrier and set it on top and then the man pulled the girl away again. 

Evie got to work. 

 

*** 

“So you don't remember what happened or how your station crashed?” Arlo asked the Ackbot again. Talking to the robot was going nowhere and between the Mayor and the Church Minister both asking their own questions this conversation would never end. With a sigh he raked a hand down his face and rubbed his eyes. If this day got any worse he was going to break something. 

The door to the Civil Corp building slammed open and Phyllis rushed in. “The woman from the crash is awake, she's very irritated.” 

Great. 

The Minister sputtered in shock before turning an ugly shade of purple-red. “There was someone alive on that relic?!” 

Ignoring him Arlo rushed to the door, the squat Mayor right behind him. “My Ginger just went to the clinic! Is she in danger?” 

“Considering the woman was barely alive two hours ago I'm assuming no, but until I can assess the situ...a...tion…” Arlo trailed off as they opened the door to the clinic. The woman was sitting on her cot with the black box in her lap, her hands plunged inside of it. The Mayor’s daughter Ginger was right next to her, a serene smile on her face as she listened to the woman babble gibberish. Gust stood close behind the two looking ready to jump in at a moments notice. A tick of respect went into Arlo’s book in regards to the other man. 

The other Civil Corp officer was… sitting on the cot with the woman laughing? 

The way Phillis had rushed in Arlo was sure there was some sort of emergency. Jeez…

“Ginger!” Mayor Gale cried out. 

“Dad!” 

“What's going on here?” Arlo asked. Standing straight he crossed his arms across his chest. Sam jumped down from the cot but stayed next to it. 

“After an initial scare when she woke up the patient seems to be very cooperative. We can't understand what she's saying, might be a slight language barrier but she seems to be fixing whatever that is that you brought in with her.” The doctor replied, though it sounded more like he was talking to himself. 

Something sparked in the box and the woman yelped, shaking out one of her hands. Sticking two fingers in her mouth she smacked the top of the box and the blue girl from before appeared, getting a gasp out of everyone. Minister Lee started praying by the door. 

“Hello, I am Hali.” 

“Weh cun hi nnnuh?” The woman was scowling at the little girl. This seemed to be a lot to process for all the Portians, who were staring speechless at the two. 

“Effects of long term cryostasis include nausea, headache, vomiting, lack of appetite, improperly or inability speaking, anemia, blindness, deafness and death. Many of these are only temporary and should pass quickly enough. Be glad you're not dead!” 

“Fuuuuu-” 

“May I inquire where we are?” Arlo reached out when her image flickered and his hand went through her. She frowned when the woman on the cot laughed. The woman had set the box beside her on the bed and her legs were dangling off the side. Her feet didn't even touch the floor but her hospital gown was riding obscenely high up on her thick thighs. Arlo quickly looked away.

“Portia. A city in The Alliance of Free Cities.” He answered. 

“Checking database. Done. No search results for Portia or The Free Alliance.” 

“Whaaaa?” 

Mayor Gale seemed to have finally snapped out of it, adding “Hali, what exactly are you?” 

“I am Hali, Holographic Artificial Learning Intelligence in charge of communication, exploration and defense of the Altair One Station orbiting Earth’s Moon.” 

“That's the name on those pictures in the room we found the girl and the bot in.” Remington said. 

“What is the Altair Station?” Arlo asked. 

“Altair Station was the last surviving civilian space station designed to take survivors of the first flash away from Earth's surface.” 

“That can't be right. People didn't go up, they went down.” Lee interjected.

“False. Many people went up. All died. Many people went down. Most died.” Hali stated. 

“Who is that then?” Everyone turned their attention back to the woman on the cot, who looked a bit like a startled kitten. 

“Evangeline Moira Leberoux was a mechanic on the Altair. Sole survivor of the crash.” 

“Swha?” 

“How'd she survive then?” Arlo asked. Much of this was way over his head. They needed Merlin or Petra in here, but both women were with the Ackbot still.

“Captain Wheelin used force to get the mechanic into the captain's emergency cryopod located in his quarters and sealed the door to his room during the crash. He ripped my module out of the wall after ordering me to direct all the sections power to the pod, giving Evie 330 years and 3 months of power. 13 more days and she would have died.” 

“Three… are you saying that's how long she's been up there?” 

“330 years 2 months and 17 days.” 

There was a clatter as the woman, Evangeline, tried to get off the cot and fell. Ginger and Sam immediately bent down to help her up. Tears were streaming down her face and her face had drained of all color. 

“Addd… Aiden.” 

“Navigator Aiden Addan Leberoux died when the second unidentified space rock hit the station.” Evangeline collapsed and Ginger wasn't strong enough to help hold her up. Gust and Sam grabbed both girls before they hit the floor. 

“No… no! Shhh. Shhhow. Show me.” Stumbling forward Gust let her go to keep a hold of his sister, leaving Sam to support her. 

The little girl gazed sadly at the crying woman and Arlo was startled to see an AI show such emotion. The blue light flickered into what looked like a map. It must have been the Altair Station when it wasn't in pieces. A gigantic rock moved into the picture hitting the side of the station and bouncing off. The station was thrown backwards, causing Ginger and Phyllis to gasp when another rock came into view and speared right through the other side of the station, severing it in two. 

“Again. Shhhhow. Luh. Luh. Lie. Lie. Life. Ugh!” Obviously frustrated the woman brought her wrist up when the little girl came back. Pointing at her wrist she tapped the black band and a screen popped up, a heart rate monitor zigzagging erratically. 

“Showing again with station life monitoring.” 

The same recording started but this time green dots were all over, moving back and forth slowly. Phyllis grabbed Arlo’s arm when the same rock entered frame again. Were all these dots people? There were thousands of them on the station. 

As the rock hit a chunk of green turned to red around the collision point. Across the room Sam looked like she was going to be sick as green dots spilled out of the hole and turned red, while the red slowly started spreading on the inside. When the second rock hit the only people still watching were Arlo and Lee; Evangeline was hanging onto Sam looking up at the recording. It lasted longer this time, everyone was silent until finally amongst all the red only one tiny dot of green remained at the top of the station. 

Arlo felt like he was going to vomit. Growing up everyone heard stories of The Collapse. Everyone heard of the fighting and all the people who died as the Earth turned on its inhabitants. That felt like nothing compared to seeing this. It was a startling difference between scary stories and seeing for yourself someone who lived through those stories and watching their tragedy play out before your eyes. 

“Oof- she's, okay. She's out.” Sam struggled with the sudden dead weight and Arlo rushed to help her get the woman back onto the cot. He couldn't even imagine the stress of seeing everyone you know die. Briefly wondering who the man that shared her name was Arlo moved out of the way so Phyllis could spread a blanket over her. Nobody talked. 

The little girl, Hali, was back. She was standing next to the cot. The AI seemed attached to Evangeline. There weren't many AI that he'd ever seen but travellers and citizens who had moved to Portia from other cities all had stories. He'd never heard of an AI capable of capable of showing such emotion. It was kind of… unsettling. 

Mayor Gale cleared his throat. He had an arm around both his children in a hug, Ginger was returning it but Gust was awkwardly bent in the hold. “I'll speak to the Civil Corp outside. Yes, you too Minister.” 

At this rate the day was never going to end.


	2. The Sun Still Shines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sun, a jail cell, a choice. Hallelujah.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4AM update? 4AM update.

“Tell me if this hurts.” Evie didn't respond as the doctor continued to poke and prod her reflexes and made sure she could move her neck. She didn't care though. What was the point? Everyone she'd ever known was dead. Everyone she loved, everyone who knew who she was, how to make her laugh or drive her nuts, how she liked her spaghetti… gone. 

The cooks in the kitchen were never going to joke with her about breaking their stoves just to see her. Evie would never hear her boss explaining how to fix something ever again. No more kissing up to the ship engineers to get them to share their tools. No more fixing broken dishwashing robots. 

“Can you tell me your name?” 

“Evangeline.” Even her voice sounded dead. She felt tears prick her eyes and she stared up at the light to make it go away. Evie couldn't even find it in herself to be happy she could talk again. 

“Can you tell me where you are, Evangeline?” 

“Doctor Xu I don't think she knows the answer to that, concussion or not.” His assistant, Phyllis, had the type of voice you just wanted to listen to forever. She was beautiful too. Aiden would have had heart eyes.

“Ah. Right. Well on the bright side all signs of your concussion have disappeared over the last two days so you can be discharged. Phyllis?” 

“Here's your clothes, take as long as you need in the shower. Remington will be here soon to take you across the way to the Civil Corps building.” 

Shuffling off the bed Evie wondered what was going to happen from here. She had nowhere to go. No money, nothing to trade, and if the voices that had filtered in whenever someone opened the door said anything it wasn't like she was even welcome here. Where the fuck was here?

“Evie.” Choking on her spit her elbow hit the sliding door of the shower.

“Jesus Christ Hali what the fuck.” Clutching the hospital gown to her front Evie swore at her. 

“Are we going outside today?” 

“I ‘spose so. Turn around if you're gonna be in here you creep.” The little girl twirled on one foot to face the door. 

“I want to go outside.” Hali said in a pouty tone. Evie rolled her eyes, turning on the shower she quickly got under the spray and shut the door. Of course the AI would want a conversation the first time Evie had been alone since she'd woken up. Why couldn't everyone just leave her alone? 

“So go outside. It's not like anyone can really stop you.” Evie set her head against the wall and just stood under the water. Hali mumbled something but Evie couldn't hear it over the shower. What a brat. 

Using the new bar of flowery smelling soap next to an odd looking glass jar of shampoo she roughly scrubbed every inch of her skin. Rinsing off she picked up the shampoo and sniffed it. It smelled like a fruit she couldn't name, or maybe a mix of fruits? More pleasant than the bulk shampoo everyone received on the station that's for damn sure. 

Evie had just begun massaging it into her hair when she heard Hali humming. What the hell was she still doing in the bathroom? Opening the door a crack she peeked out to see the blue girl sitting on the toilet lid swinging her feet. 

“Hali? What are you doing?” She asked, closing the door and continuing with her shower. 

“I want to go outside.” 

“You said that already. You're more than welcome to wonder outside by yourself, the range of your module is pretty big.” The AI mumbled something again and Evie sighed. “I don't know how to help you if I don't know what's wrong.” 

“I want you to accompany me outside.” 

“What?”

“I don't want to go alone!” The faint blue light disappeared telling Evie that Hali left. 

So wrapped up in her depression Evie hadn't even thought about what Hali was going through. The Altair One had basically been her body. Hali oversaw everything, had so much control and an environment where she could do what she was meant to. Learn. She had cameras and the entirety of the station to use as eyes, she could interact with people and other AI. What did she have now? A single broken module box and a single broken human to watch over. Digging around inside of it yesterday told her that there was a small camera set in the front of the module and Hali would have a good range where she could project herself, but without first scanning the place into her database the AI was basically blind outside of the clinic for now. ‘Go outside by yourself.’ God she was an asshole. 

She wasn't the only one who'd lost everything and everyone. 

Rinsing slowly Evie wondered about the psychological damage of a learning AI sitting half broken in the dark by itself for 300 years. Maybe there was a therapist around that could deal with a couple hundred years of untreated PTSD. 

Nothing was ever easy was it. 

Shutting off the water and stepping out of the small shower stall Evie could hear voices in the clinic. One of them she knew was the attractive green haired man that had come in with the cute little blonde, Sam, a couple of times since she'd been here. They called themselves ‘civil corps officers’ and would talk to Dr. Xu and Phyllis about something in hushed tones before leaving again. From what Phyllis told her they were kind of like deputies or some sort of peacekeeping enforcement. 

With a shudder she was glad she hadn't seen the older hippy man since that first day. She could hear him outside everyday preaching about how technology would destroy the world again and how the arrival of this relic was a sign blah blah blah. Considering Evie was part of the ‘relic’ she wasn't too fond of him already. He scared her. 

Shoving her underwear in her pocket Evie had never been more grateful that her overalls were actually clean for once. She had no other fucking clothes, what the hell was she going to do? Eventually she'd start to smell and that probably wasn't going to help convince the townsfolk not to go all Frankenstein’s mob on her ass. 

Outside of the bathroom Phyllis sat at the desk and chatted with Remington. 

“There she is. I've been meaning to ask- do you prefer Evie or Evangeline?”

“Whatever gets your rocks off, Evangeline is a mouthful so most people say Evie.” 

A blue line of light came out of Hali’s box and rotated around the room, startling the other two people. Evie just sighed in exasperation. Hali was so dramatic sometimes. 

“What is that?!” The man Evie now knew as Remington asked. 

“It's okay, Hali’s just scanning the room.” She replied.

“Why?” 

“I dunno why she does half the shit she does. Why don't you ask her.” Noticing she had accidentally twisted one of her overall straps before she left the bathroom Evie unclipped it to fix it.

“Ahem. Uh…Hi Hali. I'm Remington. What does a scan do?” It was kind of adorable how polite he was being to Hali. He probably had no idea how much it often meant to artificial lifeforms to be treated with respect. Lots of people treated them like moving garbage cans but AI and even basic robots deserved more than that. 

Hali popped up between her and the others. “Scanning the room allows me to gain information for my database as well as helping to give me a better view of the environment. Scanning you allows me to build a profile for my database, because I cannot access your information due to your lack of any cybernetics.”

“Cyber what now?”

“Aboard the Altair One every resident was equipped with a basic cybernetic wristband that acted as life and location monitoring. It also acted as a communication device and identification among its many other uses. No humans we have encountered have these, hindering my ability to tell you meat bags apart.” Evie snorted at the shocked looks on Phyllis and Remington’s faces. Robot humor was over their heads apparently. 

“So… that means…?” 

“I will now be able to recognize you when you walk within range of my module.” 

“Hali, maybe asking if you can scan people would be more polite. Less likely to make them wanna break you. And maybe me.” Evie picked up Hali’s black box and hugged it to her chest. Hopefully Hali could read between the lines of what she was saying. Which wasn't actually ‘ask if it's okay,’ it was ‘don't make the scan visible.’ 

“Understood. Are we going outside now?” Evie kind of wanted to go back to sleep but she looked at the officer in question anyways. It wasn't really like they had a choice right. 

“Yeah, I'll take you on over to Corps HQ.” A flutter of excitement bubbled in her stomach. Evie remembered those first couple years up in space, when Aiden would still cry at night about mom and dad. She'd talk about how they'd go to the park again someday to cheer him up. It worked when he was younger but as he grew up he'd insist he was too old for the park. But it always made him smile. 

What did the sun feel like? Nearly eight years of artificial lighting was enough to make one forget. What did the sky look like now? Was it still always grey like it had been before they left Earth? Would Aiden be mad that she felt it before him? 

Remington opened the door and she had to cover her eyes against how bright it was when they stepped outside. 

Holy shit. 

The sky was so blue. It looked like a painting. Little fluffy clouds blew lazily through the air above them. The sun was high in the sky and though it put spots in her vision she couldn't help but stare. It was fucking huge and bright and yellow against the light blue. Even before the first flash it had been years since Evie had seen something like this. A gentle breeze blew her hair around to tickle her shoulder blades. It felt phenomenal.

Evie took a shaky step forward and looked down to see what she was stepping on. Grass! They were on grass! Real grass! The trees around the buildings were real, looking nothing like the fake ones meant to disguise the air scrubbers on the station. 

Bending awkwardly Evie dropped the box to yank off the simple cloth and thin rubber soled shoes she wore and threw herself on the ground. Rubbing her arms and feet on the grass probably made her look like an absolute lunatic but Jesus Christ. 

Never in her life did she really expect to step on the Earth's surface again. Evie figured she was going to die up there in space, just like so many other stations had. She should have, she should be dead right now just like everyone else on her station. Like her friends and her… her little brother. Her eyes closed and she sucked in a deep breath, noticing her face was wet with tears. 

“I would appreciate it if you didn't man handle my hardware.” 

“Fuck off.” 

*** 

Telling himself it was unprofessional to be late Arlo still couldn't make his feet carry him any faster up the stone ramp to Corps HQ. Another day of listening to the same argument on repeat might drive him crazy. Why in Peach’s name he thought taking the night patrol would make listening to them today easier was beyond him but he kinda wanted to punch past him in the face. 

Repeatedly. 

“Hey there, Cap.” Grunting a hello at Remington he almost walked past the man before remembering that he was supposed to be escorting the woman from the relic. 

Speaking of… 

Laying on her back in the grass next to the clinic it looked like she was asleep. Her shoes were kicked off and she was taking deep slow breaths. The girl from the black box sat neatly next to her sprawled out companion, staring straight at Arlo. 

Oh that's still creepy. 

“What's going on here?” Arlo asked. Remington leaned over and picked up the box. 

“I thought I'd give her a minute before she was stuck in head quarters all day. It's been almost eight years since she's been outside.”

“Technically 337 years 9 months and-” 

“Shut up Hali. We get it.” Sitting up quickly Arlo noticed she had grass in her hair. “Does that mean I'm super old? Or am I still almost 24? How old am I?” 

“Ma’am-” 

“Am I super old, oh my god I'm super fucking old!”

“Ma’am?” 

“Don't call me ma’am! I'm 23!” 

“Uhh-” Remington stuttered when she snapped at him.

“It appears my human is malfunctioning.” The blue girl said, disappearing and popping up next to Remington. Crossing her legs the woman ran her hands through her hair. Once again Arlo was reminded of a kitten as the more agitated she got, the more her wavy hair seemed to floof. Like when a kitten gets angry and they fluff up and hiss. Maybe they should introduce her to the fat stray cat Nora liked to feed. 

Oddly enough Arlo wasn't so irritated anymore. He still dreaded the thought of having to sit in a dead end meeting again today but this adorable temper tantrum was amusing enough to his sleep deprived brain. 

Now that he thought about it; that sounded bad. He wasn't enjoying her distress of course, he wasn't a low life who enjoys a woman's pain. It was just that her problems were a welcome distraction from missing his bed. He liked the way she talked, even if he wasn't sure what she was talking about sometimes. Lee was definitely wrong. There was no way this little kitten was hiding some old world secrets of mass destruction. 

That was like saying Pinky was planning on taking over Portia. 

It was his job to stand up for what was right and protect Portia and everyone who lived here. Didn't that include her now as well? His gut said yes.

“Let's calm down now alright?” Arlo said.

“Maybe we should get her some water or something inside.” Remington offered her his free arm to help her stand and Arlo mentally chided himself. Welcome to Portia where only half the men had manners apparently. Arlo picked up her shoes for her but she just walked away without them.

Following behind her as she slowly walked shoeless still Arlo contemplated what he could do today to get everyone on the same page. Mayor Gale was already advocating for the woman and her metal friends, The Civil Corps taking a side instead of just being the mediators would help. 

Not paying close enough attention, Arlo ran into her back when she stopped suddenly. “What's the hold up?” He asked. 

She stood in the doorway, one hand braced against the closed door and the other holding the edge of the opened door tight enough that her knuckles had gone white. “I changed my mind. Can we stay outside?” 

Remington and Arlo both gave her twin looks of disbelief. “Come on now we need you to stay here until-”

“No. No I don't think I want to go inside. No thanks.” She said. Turning around she tried to duck around him but Arlo grabbed her shoulders and held her in place. 

“We can't just let you wander around. You'll be fine.” She tried to get out of the doorway again but Arlo wouldn't budge. Bouncing off his chest she looked up at him in a pout and nothing on the planet could have stopped his smile. Or maybe it was better defined as a smirk if the way her pout turned into a scowl said something. The top of her head didn't even reach his chin, though she could probably do some serious damage if she jumped and headbutted him. Or kicked him in the shin.

“Is this the woman from the relic?” Looking over her head into HQ Arlo saw that everyone else was already here for the meeting. Nora and Lee stood far apart from the Research Center ladies, Merlin and Petra. Mayor Gale was right in the middle, surprising Arlo with the presence of his daughter Ginger. 

Trying to make a last run for it, Arlo caught her around the waist with an arm and hauled her over his shoulder. Ignoring the titters from the small crowd inside he held her legs tightly as she tried to kick him and wiggle out of his hold. 

“You son of a bitch! Put me down you fucking caveman! Don't even think of putting me in that damn cage what the fuck is wrong with you people!” Her little fists slapped against his back but he didn't think she was really trying to hurt him, it was like she was just trying to get free.

“What is she saying?” 

“How barbaric! And rude!” 

“Put me down! Put me- Kalamack?” 

“Hot dog! My favorite mech-ack! Mech-ack!” The Ackbot tried to stand and toppled over. Now that she mentioned it; seemed a bit contradictory to make the decision to help her and then toss her in a cell. There was no way the church would accept her sitting in on the meeting though. 

At least she'd stopped wiggling. It was hard to keep up the tough Civil Corps Captain exterior with a woman's bum next to your face. 

Setting her down he expected her to make another break for it but she sat on the floor and took the Ackbot’s leg into her lap. Decided to keep her shoes in case she wanted to throw them at him later Arlo closed the door and locked it. 

“You've been insisting this whole time that she wasn't dangerous yet Captain Arlo had to use force to bring her in. This is who you want to live among us?” Lee said. Merlin put a palm to her forehead as if she was already getting a headache from the minister and Arlo was right there with her. 

“She fell out of the sky, lost everyone she ever knew, had a bunch of unknown people take her things and now we throw her in a cage. How would you react?” Arlo replied.

“Kalamack what did these people do to your leg?” 

“Oh mademoiselle Evangeline! I am so glad to see y-ack!” 

“Here buddy let me see if I can fix that.” 

Ginger sat on the couch closest to the cell when everyone else moved to the chairs by the door. Angling his chair so he could keep an eye on her and also be part of the conversation Arlo still couldn't figure out why the mayor would bring his daughter along. 

“First impressions aside, I still stand by my side of this decision.” Gale started.

“How can you say that when she's been so openly hostile? We should destroy the relics and hand her over to the Alliance council.” Lee said.

“The information she and her AI could give us is invaluable, why would we throw that away?” 

“She's still a person. The Church of Light would never turn it's back on a lost soul no matter where they come from. Right Minister?” Nora spoke up. It was surprising to see Nora take a stand against Lee but Arlo was glad to see it. 

“Hey caveman, can I have a screwdriver?” Looking down at her on the floor she didn't even glance in his direction as she spoke. 

“My name is Arlo, not caveman.” He grumbled. 

“Yeah well my name's Evangeline not you or that woman or she. Hear that? You're all talking about me why don't you use my name. Might make it easier to remember I'm a fucking person.” Her voice trembled with anger but she was handling it well, continuing to dig around in the Ackbot’s head. Evangeline. Arlo quite liked that name. 

The argument continued. Arlo took the screwdriver he'd taken from her before from a drawer in his desk and slipped it to her between the bars without anyone noticing. Or at least that's what he thought. Remington nodded at him when Arlo saw him watching. 

He just realized he hadn't seen the little girl since they entered the building. Remington had set her box next to the cell. Did that mean she was just watching? Suddenly Arlo didn't mind when he could see her. 

“Capta-ack Arlo and his Civil Corps members ack have been very ack-kind. My leg was missing when I aw-Aw - ack from maintenance mode.” 

“Alright alright stop talking so I can fix this.” 

“You fixed your other friend too, do you like working on robots?” Ginger asked her quietly. At this point Arlo was barely paying attention to the people arguing in front of him anymore. They were just going in circles. 

“Yeah, I like fixing stuff. Robots, appliances, furniture, sometimes people if they got cybernetics.” 

“Is that what you did up in space?” Ginger moved from the couch to the floor outside the cell. She seemed very interested in Evangeline. Maybe she'd asked her father if she could talk to the odd woman today and that's why he brought her along. It would help his position in the argument if his soft spoken daughter befriended the stranger. 

“Yeah. I'm a- I was a mechanic. We'd fix the robots and small things around the station that broke, while the engineers took care of the ship itself.” The softness of her voice now was far different from her anger. Arlo could hear how broken up she was over the loss of everything she knew. It was a heavy emotion to hold on her shoulders. Evangeline must think everyone was against her in this new world she was thrown into unfairly. He felt protective of her. Nobody should go through that alone.

“We don't know what hides in their inner working, I still insist that we destroy them.” Lee said loudly.

Evangeline snorted. “What hides in their inner workings? Wires dude. So many wires.” 

“These relics could have plans for the next armageddon!” Lee argued. 

“Really? A one legged cook and a blind schoolgirl gonna fuck you up? Maybe they'll steal your lunch money while they're at it.” 

Hali popped into the middle of the room. “I have no body, I could not steal even if I wished.” And then flickered out. 

Evangeline yanked something out of the back of Ackbot’s head and inspected it. The robot gave a shudder. “There it is. Something fried your cleaning chip and it was gunkin’ up your brains.” 

“Oh la la! My circuits feel so young!” 

“Yeah okay champ.” Ginger giggled at them. 

“The Civil Corps has been neutral in this argument so far, I don't think their input-” Lee started but Arlo decided he'd had enough. 

“The Civil Corps have decided to side with the mayor in this. We've no reason to believe any of them pose a threat to Portia or its citizens.” 

“What!” Lee leaned forward in his seat with his exclamation. 

“Minister, please believe me when I say I always have what's best for Portia in mind. Our city was founded by wanderers and refugees, by people with no home. What kind of people would we be if we turned away the same kind of people that founded our city?” Mayor Gale said.

“But...but in Ethea-” 

“Yes yes dancing robot very dangerous we heard you the first fifty times.” Merlin cut in.

“Portia is a welcome and inclusive community, I'm sure many if not all of our good citizens would agree that this is a time to show compassion and generosity to someone in need.” Gale wasn't pulling his punches today. Arlo wished the man would have done this earlier to avoid wasting so much time running in circles.

“I…okay. I understand your point, and you're correct. It would be against everything the church stands for to abandon a lost soul.” At Lee’s words Nora frowned at him, obviously a little upset that he hadn't listened to her when she said the same thing earlier. “But we still can't deny that any of them could prove dangerous.”

“And I am ready to take full responsibility in the event that does happen. For now what I recommend to make all parties happy is that Mr. Ack will live here with the Civil Corps officers where they can keep an eye on him.” 

“What about Evangeline?” Arlo found himself asking. Keeping an eye on the nutty robot would be no problem. From their conversations with him already they found he had an interesting personality and often talked of his lost love Lora. Beyond that he had a weirdly large amount of cooking related jokes, which Sam found hilarious. 

“We have the room and money to help get her on her feet, but of course it's up to her to decide what to do.” Gale said.

“Oh hallelujah! We're not being deactivated!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> De-ack-tivated. I'll see myself out. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has commented and left kudos so far! Yall da best, you fuel my motivation. <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


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